It's illegal to unlock a carrier-locked device for use on another carrier. This doesn't do that; this unlocks the bootloader to allow you to load another OS.
Sounds like step #2 is using a tool supplied by the device manufacturer. The person running the tool is not reverse engineering or otherwise performing unauthorized bypass of DRM. Likewise, the HTC unlock tool is not affected.
From what I understand, the "unlocking" that is currently illegal is unlocking from you carrier, not unlocking a bootloader. Furthermore, these are Nexus devices (development devices) that have no extra protection or encryption on the bootloader. They are made to be unlocked.
I don't think that's the case in this scenario -- jailbreaking is illegal, but this isn't jailbreaking, it's unlocking. The manufacturer put this functionality in for you to use (if you accept the consequences), in contrast to Apple's complete locking down.
Jailbreaking is still not illegal. Only carrier-unlocking a device is illegal, which is unrelated to both jailbreaking and unlocking the boot loader. Here's a quick and dirty breakdown:
Jailbreaking -- Modifying the software/OS on your device to give you "root" or administrative access, which allows you to do things on the phone that are normally restricted. NOT illegal. Doing this generally involves getting a copy of the "su" (superuser) executable that's been compiled for the OS on the phone in question.
Unlocking the boot loader -- Android phones from the factory do not allow you to install alternate OSes on them until you do this. Doing this simply puts the phone into a state that is receptive to flashing new OSes, and is functionality that's built in to the phone. As far as I know there's no equivallent concept on the iOS side. NOT illegal. I think doing this just involves invoking some special commands via the official adb tools while the phone is connected via usb, and wipes all of the data from your phone when you do it.
Unlocking/Carrier unlocking -- Phones that you buy from carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, etc. are usually carrier-locked, meaning they'll only work with SIM cards that came from whatever carrier you bought them from. It means you can't (for example) sign up for a Verizon plan and get their subsidized price on a new phone, then cancel your plan immediately (paying whatever exorbitant early termination fees they charge which hopefully still nets you at less than the full cost of the phone you got), and bring the phone to T-Mobile for a cheaper pay-as-you-go plan. The only way to do that would be to carrier-unlock the phone. This IS illegal. I'm not really sure what this generally involves but I know for at least some phones it's just a matter of dialing up a special keycode on the phone.
Unlocking phones is only illegal due to the DMCA's restriction on bypassing DRM. I looked through the source code of the utility (fetched with apt-get source), and it looks like is not what is happening. Effectivly, what the command does is (politly) ask the phone to unlock itself.
The code that actually talks to the phone is:
"usb_write(usb, cmd, cmdsize)"
Where cmd=="oem unlock"
If that is not enough to justify that this is not illegal DRM circumvention, after issuing the command, you must accept the terms of unlocking that is presented to you on the device.
